Optical fiber couplers are used to couple collimated light beams from light sources, such as lasers, to optical fiber for transmission. To enable proper coupling, an optical fiber coupler includes adjustable optics that generally align a received light beam with an optical axis of a fiber collimator, used to direct the light beam into the optical fiber. Conventional optical fiber couplers are designed to be readjusted when combined with a light source in order to align the adjustable optics on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, precision adjustment tooling is typically built into conventional optical fiber couplers, which increases cost. Likewise, expensive tooling is often required to fabricate conventional optical fiber couplers.
Further, in addition to being expensive, conventional optical fiber couplers typically have numerous mechanical parts and interdependent alignment axes, which make alignment of received light beams difficult. For example, the bases to which the adjustable optics are mounted may include separate base plates and connectors that are movable with respect to one another and/or the adjustable optics. Much of the alignment must be performed manually due to the nature of the adjustment tooling. For example, conventional optical fiber couplers may include various types of adjustment, set and locking screws for manipulating the adjustable optics. In addition, once the adjustable optics are preliminarily aligned, they typically must be locked in position by various mechanical locking mechanisms. Otherwise, conventional optical fiber couplers are particularly sensitive to shock and vibration if not locked. However, operation of the mechanical locking mechanisms often causes misalignment of the previously aligned adjustable optics.